When a group of any size is structured corporately instead of biblically, it opens the door for secrecy and backroom dealing. For those unfamiliar with the corporate process,  such a statement might seem insensitive and lacking faith. The presence of such an offense is what perpetuates the problem. 

When a religious group has lived under corporate rule for decades, and in some cases generations, secrecy becomes one of its primary tools for conducting business. Board rooms become places to showcase the formality of the corporate process where decisions already made in private by a privileged few are pressed forward in a meeting to a place of agreement.

The result of that agreement is a vote cast to meet the needs of their articles of incorporation. Absent in this process is the raw and painful interaction between brothers and sisters in Christ. This interaction is required by those who want to dig through the layers of bureaucracy to discover God’s will, a will that may not be in line with the thinking of those in power or line up with corporate dictates. Arriving at a Godly outcome is made more challenging when the fear of losing one’s job or place of influence in the organization is at risk.

I walked you through these negative-sounding weeds for a reason. So much of what is seen in American Christianity is wedded to corporate protocol. A group does not have to be incorporated to do life this way. It can happen in any group no matter the size or corporate affiliation when only a select few hold the reins to power and outcomes. Those in power and those in a place of blind submission to that power will offer an offense when this reality is challenged. That offense can sound like “Not in our group!” or “Who are you to say such a thing!”.  When those kinds of words are uttered, the group is the most susceptible and already blinded from seeing the risk they have encountered.

God doesn’t conduct the work of His Kingdom bound by corporate protocol. He can surely work through any form of corporate governance if He has willing and humble participants, but many times His greatest work comes as an intervention to these structures. The individual or individuals God uses to bring about these interventions can be prematurely labeled as rebellious people who upset the corporate applecart. Sadly, if there is not corporate health, a distancing and eventual dismissal will take place removing their voice from a place of corporate influence. 

Acts of courageous obedience will be honored by the Lord in unusual and unexpected ways. That honor may not come at the moment but somewhere in the future where their courage will be needed once again to advance God’s Kingdom and help His people find a place of freedom.